Board overrides Hackel vetoes, exec says he will ignore them

A legal battle took shape on Thursday as two vetoes by County Executive Mark Hackel were quickly overridden by the Board of Commissioners but Hackel said he still will not abide by the budget transparency ordinances that he opposes.

Hackel accused the board of overstepping its bounds by demanding far more details in county budgets and quarterly financial reports than he has provided during his 2 ½ years in office. In his veto message, the Macomb Township Democrat said that budget preparations and financial reports are “a responsibility that I cannot delegate and will not cede.”

Board Chairman Dave Flynn countered that the board is seeking a breakdown of multimillion-dollar line items in the budget so that commissioners will have department-by-department details on employee salaries and benefits, vacant positions, overtime costs and pensions.

“This isn’t a power struggle, this is about good government,” said Flynn, a Sterling Heights Democrat.

Though the Democrats hold a 9-4 edge on the board, this was not a partisan issue. The two votes to override, which requires a two-thirds majority, were 12-0. The board took action at a special meeting just six hours after Hackel’s veto messages arrived at the commissioners’ office.

The ordinances were unanimously approved by the board earlier this month and the overrides were widely anticipated. The last time Hackel ignored an override, in early 2012 when the board stood by an ordinance on government contracts, a lengthy legal fight led to a board victory at the Michigan Court of Appeals.

In recent days, dueling attorneys offering opposing legal opinions sparked the new standoff as the board and the executive offered similar legal arguments with opposite conclusions.

The county’s chief legal counsel, George Brumbaugh, and Hackel’s independent counsel said the voter-approved county charter and state law are on the executive’s side.

The commissioners’ independent counsel said the charter and law, specifically the Uniform Budgeting Act, favor the board.

Assistant Executive Al Lorenzo said the board ignored language that’s “as clear as can be” and tried to tilt the balance of power in its favor. The charter allows the board to pass ordinances, Lorenzo said, but the commissioners cannot supersede other sections of the charter or state statute.

“In order for the action of any legislative body to have standing, they have to have underlying authority in law,” he added. “When it comes to budgets, the executive prepares it, the Board of Commissioners adopts it, and the executive administers it.”

Flynn has a decidedly different view, pointing to a section of the county charter that says budget proposals from the executive should comply with county ordinances.

“An ordinance is a law of the county. And to not follow the parameters of the ordinance is contrary to the charter and state law,” Flynn said. “No … individual or elected official is above the law.”